Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Thoughts on Alice Walker
I was recently required to read a collection of essays by Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, as part of the general curriculum in this increasingly interesting LLV (Life, Learning, and Vocation) class at Eckerd. The essays are drawn from various points in her life, spanning her college years to the present. She spent her youth in Georgia and Mississippi, growing up in the middle of the Civil Rights movement. She saw racial hatred during a time when it was acceptable to put such ideas on public display. Her formative years were spent in places where lynchings and other forms of hate crime were not unheard of, and somehow she persevered.
I haven't ever read The Color Purple and have only sat through the movie once, the story is just not my style, but I have a new appreciation for its author. To persevere under such circumstances, as Walker and so many other Southern blacks did, refusing to be run out of town or to bow to fear, is the stuff worthwhile lives are made of. She and her peers made a real difference in their lifetimes. Not only did they have a collective impact, but they literally changed their world. How many amongst us will ever have the chance to say that?
Walker became famous for her writing, but even if she had been unknown to society at large, as most participants in the movement were, her life would have been something special, because she followed her heart, did what she knew was right, despite potentially deadly condsequences. She believed in something so strongly, she was willing to die for it. How many people can honestly say that?
There are a few concepts I would die for; my family, my friends, my freedom, but the chances of me ever having to face my demise in defense of a cause or belief are very slim. I am thankful for this, make no mistake, but at the same time I am somehow discouraged. In the real world, most of our causes are corrupted or stained at some level by the people involved in them. Rarely will you find people who are genuine, honest, and unified in their efforts to make a real difference.
Now, more than ever, people have the opportunity to come together, to get informed and do something with their lives, but few will. In retrospect, that generalized apathy is nothing new, but what is new is the reality that so many people have genuine opportunity. I am no bleeding heart altruist, but I do recognize the worth and value of giving back. My life has been easy. My family has not ever been wealthy, but we did not ever go hungry. My brother and I did not ever have to wear tattered clothes or go without life's basic needs. This was due in large part to the efforts of my mom. When my dad's construction business began to struggle and ultimately failed, mom began teaching Summer school, cutting the family budget, and generally making sure our needs were met.
My mom's cause was her family, that much is obvious to me now. And there is no arguing against the impact she has had on my life. The fact that so many people in this world do not even get to experience the basic pleasures of a house, a new pair of shoes, or even something as simple as cereal and milk every morning, should not be dismissed. That said, there is a strong drive in me to hold people accountable for their own suffering. It is hard to help when humans are working toward their own destruction by breeding like barnyard animals or holding tight to tradition when it is clearly bringing about their own destruction.
Realizing that I am not a pure altruist set me free from guilt. My time and energy are finite things, neither should be wasted on people nor causes that are not first helping themselves. My primary cause is a selfish one, I am most interested in and most focused on my own spiritual development. I recognize the commonalities between my self and my fellow humans on a spiritual level, but in the context of the material world, I am more or less completely disassociated.
Through experience and observation, I've come to understand how little the material world really means. Our great teachers have been putting this in our collective ear for eons and it is inevitable that very few will give the thought any real weight in their lives, I know this and accept it...but that's neither here nor there.
I guess what I am getting at is that I am in some strange way jealous of those with a larger cause that the could connect to their spiritual journey. That sort of clarity brings life into focus in a way no amount of self-analysis or piety can. Unfortunately, such focus is usually a byproduct of duress and strife. Maybe what I really envy is that sense of brotherhood people like Walker and her peers experienced, because it is most definitely lacking in many ways for me.
Where she saw her peers as brothers and sisters in a monumental structure, I see most of my generation as obstacles to real progress. They are caught up in the same old patterns of acquiring goods, protectiing their public persona, hypocrisy, cowardice, and a million other things that have nothing to do with what occupies my mind a majority of the time. I find brotherhood and connection in the alcoves and cracks of society, because good people, as I understand the concept, are increasingly hard to find. Those involved in mass movements suffer and even die, but on a very essential level they are more alive and real than people in my position will ever be.
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You inspire others to be better people by your way of life and your actions whether you realize it or not. I know you've inspired me.
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not sure my life is a thing worthy of inspiring others, but if there's something useful in all of these ramblings, I am happy to hear you are seeing it!! :)